1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fuel cell and, more particularly, to a housing case that forms an outside surface of a fuel cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
Research and development is now carried out on a vehicle equipped with a fuel cell electricity generating system capable of utilizing electricity generated during reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Normally, fuel cells incorporated in a fuel cell electric power generating system are provided in the form of a fuel cell stack having many stacked unit cells. With regard to a fuel cell stack, a securing method has been proposed in which a fuel cell stack is secured by a pair of end plates that are disposed on both sides of the stack in the direction of stacking unit cells.
If a fuel cell having a fuel cell stack as mentioned above is installed in a vehicle, there arise dangers of positional deviation and deformation of stacked unit cells being caused by a torsional force applied to the fuel cell due to a torsion of a body of the vehicle or vibrations that occur in the vehicle. Such a slight deviation or deformation may cause leakage of a cooling gas, a fuel gas or the like. Furthermore, such a deviation or deformation will reduce the stability of the mounting fixture of the piping for supplying and discharging a fuel gas, an oxidative gas and a coolant, and the electric system wiring, etc. to the stack, and will reduce the mounting precision thereof. Considering stable installation of the fuel cell into a vehicle, the installation must be performed separately for each fuel cell stack, so the installation man-hours will increase.